Life Keeps Moving On
by HermioneBelleAthena
Summary: This goes into the history of one of our favorite professors: Minerva McGonagall. We don't get much information on this amazing professor, so this fanfiction is a possibility of what her life was like. In this one, Minerva finds herself struggling with poverty, but finds comfort in her husband, Richard. A job oppurtunity and a shocking death keep Minerva's head spinning.
1. Chapter 1: The Hog's Head

Chapter One: The Hog's Head/The Three Broomsticks

I sighed heavily, looking around at the customers of the Hog's Head and blowing away my brown hair. How did a witch at the top of her class get here? A bartender paid only two sickles a week, barely enough for food. I couldn't believe that this was the career I ended up with. At least I had Richard McGonagall, my husband whom I had just married. His job, which paid for all other necessities, didn't pay much either. It didn't matter. We were pretty happy. I even had a garden for vegetables so we didn't have to purchase all our food. During my free time, I tended it and pulled weeds, my least favorite job as a small child. I wondered why it was necessary, but now, I realized somberly, it was one of the only things I could do to help with my situation.

I was yanked out of my thoughts as a drunkard grabbed my arm, asking for another round. I gently took his hand off my arm and told him calmly, "It's probably best if you go home now. You know how the Ministry is about Apparating at certain hours." Quite a few wizards who spent time here disliked that about the Ministry. They were normally nosy if you Apparated or Disapparated between nine p.m. and four a.m., unless you worked a shift at that time.

My side comment had the wanted effect: the man scowled and replied, "Damn Min'stry. Needs to keep its nose out of ev'ryone else's business. Why the hell does it care if we Apparate at the crack of dawn? None o' their concern, it is. I swear to the Lord Almighty, if they do not get off ev'ryone else's case, there ought t' be an uprising. That bloody Min'ster thinks he knows what is best, but it's bullock." I nodded from time to time and added an "Of course" or two.

After his long rant, I stretched and advised "Best be going." He nodded, laid down the money for his last drink or two, and left. I collected, then noticed that, instead of ten knuts, he left three sickles. My eyes widened. I was about to yell after him, when I saw the man stumble out the door. I couldn't leave without being fired, especially during a time with all these customers. I kept two of the sickles and made change for the last one, giving me two sickles and nineteen knuts. How would they know? They would never. The rest of the hour seemed to fly by. I barely remember serving a professor who seemed to recognize me at first, then pushed away the idea, along with the woman with four men following her around. Nine o'clock came, and I grinned as I stepped outside to the warm night and Apparated home.


	2. Chapter 2: Arriving Home

Chapter Two:

I Apparated in front of my house, just a bit off. I stepped forward to hear a squelch that could only mean mud. I looked down at my shoe sinking in muck and groaned. I turned my eyes back up and saw a young girl stomping in the squishy ground. She was in front of a pitiful looking garden and the sky was a purple colour, as the sun was setting. Her mouth was in a pout and her eyebrows were furrowed. The child bent down, clutched a fistful of weeds, and yanked them out of the ground, placing them in a pile with others. A tear slipped down her dirty cheek as she looked down at all the weeds she had left, which, at the time, seemed like another hour's worth of hard work. A woman dressed in a simple white dress with a faded red pattern stepped out on the gray wooden porch and gazed down at the young girl.

"Now Minerva," she sighed. "It's not that bad. See?" The mother uprooted a huge clump of weeds and the girl's face lightened, seeing her new workload. The image faded and I was back. I looked down at my poor shoes, now covered in the oozing mud. "Urgh!" I yelled in frustration. "Why? Why when it was muddy?" Nature seemed to be laughing at me. I trudged inside where Richard was sitting in an armchair in the corner by an oil lamp and was reading. He looked up briefly at my condition and sighed. "Inaccurate Apparating once more?"

A stern look crossed my face, one that I would wear many times in the future. "Now Richard, you have Apparated plenty of times in the wrong spot," I scolded, but then a grin crossed my face. I could never stay cross at him for long. He threw the Daily Prophet down and walked toward me. I wrapped my arms around him. We leaned in close and I could feel his familiar warmth, smell his particular scent of wood shavings (oak and hazel, to be exact), and hear the murmurs of devotion.

"Once I said to you that death was preferable to being stuck in a room with you, remember?" I said, reminiscing of our Hogwarts years. He chuckled. "Ah, yes, that was when you were a strict prefect who wouldn't even stick a toe across the line, while I was a good student, a fellow prefect, and somehow 'insufferable'. It was the Quidditch, wasn't it?"  
I laughed. "Yes," I admitted. "I could fly a broom as well as a troll, and you, you were amazing at it, and a bit of a braggart."

He rolled his eyes. "You are the one who made the Quidditch team!"

I waved that comment away. "Details, details," I said. Then, I remembered what I was going to say. "Richard, guess what has happened at my job today." I could barely contain my excitement, but I kept a straight face, for which I would soon be famous for.  
He eyed me suspiciously. "What?" he ventured cautiously.

I grinned. "A man was paying for all of his drinks, and left too much money!" His eyes widened. "How much money?" "Two sickles and nineteen knuts!" I replied, ecstatic. He embraced me and I felt like life could be turning for the better. I had no idea how right I was.


	3. Chapter 3: Animagus

Chapter Three: Animagus

As far as we were concerned, life was pretty darn good. We had money to spare! Alas, it was not to last. Our extra money was slowly slipping out of our fingers as Richard had been laid off for a week and we needed that extra money to pay for what we had lost. Another year had passed. Almost one year had passed since he and I were married, since I became a bartender at the Hog's Head.

On this note, I Apparated to the Hog's Head once more, the glamour of the extra sickles had faded, and I was more tired than I had ever been. How had this happened? How, I asked myself, as I did every night, did I get here? What if any of my professors saw me this way? What would they think? I blinked a stray tear out of my eye and pushed open the door to the Hog's Head.

Aberforth grunted, "Minerva, you're early." I looked at the clock. I was! How was that possible? I thought, then remembered how our clock at home got ahead. I groaned and sat down at a stool. "I'll just wait here. Besides, it's not long until my shift," I replied.

To keep myself entertained, or, you could say, sane, I kept track of all of the customers entering, ordering, and exiting. A man smoking, a bit of stubble on his chin; a woman with short black hair and black eyes, who was in the form of fox before she came in. She was an animagus, which reminded me that I dreamed of becoming one, especially since I was so skilled in Charms and Transfiguration.

Then, someone in a purple cloak walked in, sat in the corner, and was still. I stole glances at him every seven minutes, but he did not move, did not order anything, did not speak. It was odd, very odd indeed.

My thoughts were interrupted by the start of my shift. The day passed as usual, other than the wizard in the purple cloak. He seemed familiar, but the cloak hid his face very well. The time came for my shift to end, and I Apparated home. Richard was reading the paper as usual, and I sat on the arm of the chair.

"Richard, I want to become an animagus," I confessed. He looked up from the paper and declared in a matter-of-fact way, "Then schedule an appointment with the Ministry." I smiled. "Yes, Richard, but when?" After debating when the best time would be, we decided that August 13th, that upcoming Saturday, would be the ideal day to become an animagus. I used the Floo network to get to the Ministry, and Richard went with me.

A woman in an aquamarine cloak peered down at me. I cleared my throat and asked, "Where would I make an appointment to become an animagus?" She sighed, then replied, "That would be Level 5, Department of Transformations." I nodded and set off briskly for the stairs to Level 5.

After climbing four flights of stairs, I came upon the Department of Transformations. Another woman stood by the stairway. "Could you tell me where I would make an appointment to become an animagus?" I questioned. She snapped her fingers and a notebook came flying towards her. Her eyes scanned a page then declared, "Just as I thought! Bott canceled his appointment, so one is open right now! Go down the corridor," she said pointing her finger towards a long hallway, "and take the fourth left."

I wheeled Richard around and headed for that doorway. He chuckled. "I have never seen you this eager to get something done, not since school, anyhow," he remarked. I grinned. "This has been one of my dreams since our third year!"

This was it. The plaque over the doorway said, "Office of Animagus Records". A man in a canary yellow robe smiled and walked over to us. "Mr. Bott's replacement, eh? What animal would you like to transform into?" Richard nudged me gently, and I said calmly, even though explosions were going off inside of me, "A cat."

"Alright, then, come with me." I followed the man, and Richard stayed behind, smiling at me. I was lead into a sterile room, where the man helped me through my first Transformation. After a few more practices, I had it down pat. "How remarkable," he murmured. "You really have the hang of this, don't you. A regular when it comes to Transfiguration." I blushed and replied, "Top of my class, sir." He grinned and told me I could go.

I had done it. I was an animagus.


	4. Chapter 4: The Mysterious Man Revealed

**Sorry for the delay. Cross country practice started in the mornings, so I couldn't stay up late. Then, almost every afternoon, my mom took us to the pool and wouldn't let me stay behind. In the little free time I had, my mom was constantly making me research things (what kind of make up looks good with your skintone blah blah blah). Don't you understand that a girl just wants to write her fanfics? Without further ado, Chapter 4!**

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Chapter 4: The Mysterious Man Revealed

I Apparated to Hogsmeade ten minutes before my shift began so I could transform and walk around the town with a cat's eye view. The stores looked so different. Each step I took, each direction I looked was a new experience, even though I had walked these streets many times. I jumped on an empty wooden case with ease, stretching my newfound legs. How splendid it was to see the world from another animal's point of view. By the time my shift started, the grandeur of being an animagus had not worn off. I transformed back to human form and strolled in, happier than I had ever been at the Hog's Head.

I had just taken my spot behind the bar and started polishing glasses when a man in a purple cloak came up and sat on one of the stools. It was the man I had been observing for the past week! He took down the hood to reveal a whiting beard and half-moon spectacles. "Professor Dumbledore!" I gasped.

My old Transfiguration teacher smiled at me. "Minerva, a cat. Not surprising. And of all of my students, you would have been the one to master an Animagus form," he remarked. I stood there, speechless, until I mustered up the courage to speak. "Thank you, Professor," I mumbled. I was completely embarrassed. This professor who had always praised me now saw me working as a barmaid. Nothing wrong with barmaids, but I could do much better.

"Now, Minerva, I didn't come here for a drink. I don't know if word has reached you, but Professor Dippet has retired, and I have filled the position of Headmaster at Hogwarts. That means the school calls for a new Transfiguration teacher. I thought of the best witch at Transfiguration we have had in years, and if you know someone better, please inform me. But as of now, the job is yours if you will take it," Professor Dumbledore said.

My eyes grew wide at the idea of becoming a professor at Hogwarts, the best wizarding school in all of Europe. "Of course, Professor. I would love to become your successor," I replied, appearing cool and collected. However, I felt like jumping on a broom and soaring through the sky. Professor McGonagall! Richard would be so proud!

Dumbledore smiled, a twinkle in his eye, and said, "Then the job is yours. Come up to the school tomorrow to finalize this, and I will be expecting you this September."

I Apparated immediately and found myself right in the sitting room. Perfect Apparating! That mattered very little as I awaited the return of my beloved Richard. When he arrived, I bombarded him with the news. "Our luck just keeps getting better!" he exclaimed, discarding the Daily Prophet and embracing me. We fell asleep happily that night.

Unfortunately, luck would not always be on our side.

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**How was it? Please review and tell me if there are any holes in my story, any bad representations of characters, anything unrealistic, or if I should change anything about the story. I understand not wanting to be the bearer of bad news, but I would love some criticism so that I may improve this story.**


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